


Legerdemain

by JoeEngland



Category: Steven Universe (Cartoon)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-28
Updated: 2020-06-28
Packaged: 2021-03-04 07:48:22
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,144
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24966223
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JoeEngland/pseuds/JoeEngland
Summary: Beautiful days come and go very quickly. Garnet knows this better than most. Much, much better.This is a vignette I wrote back in 2016, when Steven was still a cute little gnome getting into trouble.  It's sort of a response to a certain snowy episode, and the implications therein.
Kudos: 7





	Legerdemain

It's a beautiful day in spite of it all.

Amethyst and Pearl had always been a study in contrast, and not always to productive ends. Without Rose's influence they had trouble reconciling their differences into a complimentary relationship (unlike Ruby and Sapphire). More often they were like stones scraping against one another, giving off sparks. They were getting better over time, but even when they weren't in conflict they still demonstrated vastly dissimilar reactions to identical affairs. Garnet found it rather wonderful.

Today Pearl was shrieking. "Why didn't you see!? Why didn't you see!?" Over and over again, a shuddering mantra marching through tears as she beat her rail thin limbs against Garnet's chest. Amethyst, meanwhile, was quiet. Mouth slack, eyes wide, a shaky hand jerking across Steven's blank face as though hunting for breath. There was none, of course. He was clearly dead.

And Garnet's slender finger stroked her chin as she analyzed the scene. At this point there was no cause for pretense, though naturally her lack of reaction only exacerbated Pearl.

"Don't you care!? Garnet! Garnet, answer me!"

She knew she shouldn't bother, but it was awful when they focused on her this way. Should she speak? The option percolated in her minds. Sapphire didn't see much point, but Ruby advocated a response. Sapphire eventually agreed… it simply felt wrong to shut them out. So Garnet dipped her head to meet Pearl's eyes, willing her to regain composure.

"It's okay," she said, after a moment. "Don't worry about it."

The words seemed to hit Pearl like a slap across the face. Even Amethyst jerked up at that, Steven's body still limp on her arm.

Pearl's voice was trembling, her tone somewhere between shock and rage. "'Okay…?' 'Okay…?'" she choked. A dangerous look flashed across her face, a murderous urge rising. But it tapered and she took a few stumbling steps back before collapsing onto the sand, utterly defeated. The hysteria dried up as she lost the energy to move.

"How is it… Garnet… Steve- Steven's dead, Garnet. Our baby is dead."

Garnet knelt, doing her best to speak soothingly (a technique she felt she had yet to master). "No he isn't. And he won't be today. Because this isn't really happening."

"What?" Pearl stilled. "What do you mean?" Amethyst perked up a little. Again, a demonstration of contrast.

"That isn't Steven, and you're not Pearl. All of this… it's nothing more than a vision."

Pearl had no words. Amethyst finally spoke. "A vision? Like… your future vision?"

"Yes. I usually wouldn't have this conversation, but I hate seeing you two like this. Sometimes it's harder than other times."

Pearl was getting excited again. Or, rather, the appearance of excitement was given by the specter of the version of Pearl that would exist if this set of events was allowed to play out. "But… Garnet, we're real. This is real, Garnet. This isn't a vision, it's really happening!" The tremble was creeping back to her voice, a new fear spreading… she thought that her old friend had gone mad.

"No, you're not. In a moment the vision will end and I'll be sure to save Steven. This is how it always goes." Garnet adjusted her glasses (or, rather, the glasses on the avatar of Garnet which she controlled in these scenarios). "And I never fail. Remember?"

"B… but, waitaminute," Amethyst piped, though she never lost her grip on Steven's body. "She's right! I'm real. I know I'm real. I'm, I'm thinking, and… and… I can… feel him…" Sobs began to rise up out of her and Garnet felt compelled to go to her side, a long arm draping across her back.

"I don't know if that's true or if I'm just talking to shadows. Maybe you really do have thoughts and emotions, but I'm telling you… none of this exists. Steven's fine. He's playing on the beach. The accident won't happen."

The purple gem hugged Steven to herself, draping him in her wild, illusory hair. Her voice was small, clouded with tears and tentative hope. "H… he is? For real?"

"For real, Amethyst. When this ends I'll just go over to him and keep him safe, like always."

A strange sigh escaped Pearl's lips. "And… what will happen to us? I mean… if that's true…" She sounded like she had accepted the possibility, though of course there was still doubt. Garnet shrugged, not unkindly.

"You'll vanish."

Pearl positioned herself by Steven's other side, a pale hand resting on Amethyst's, which lay atop their boy's broken gem. "Is… is this what happens… every time you use your future vision?"

"Often," replied Garnet. "It's hard to resist trying to comfort you. I've explained this so many times…"

"I'm sorry," said Pearl, possibly misconstruing the last remark as a criticism. "If this is true, I… I never knew how hard it must be for you… living through this all the time."

Now they were all sitting together around Steven's little corpse. The world had begun to grow dim as Garnet spoke. "I got numb during the war. Back then I was seeing friends and allies cracking all the time, hundreds of times, every day. That's when I learned to take it."

Pearl was now very near to calm. "But… doesn't it bother you? Seeing… him… like this?"

"Of course it does. It breaks my heart." Garnet contemplated the ghost of Steven splayed across Amethyst's lap. She had done this too often.

Now Pearl was whispering. The world had gone quiet… there were no seagulls, or gusts of wind, or waves moaning across the beach. "No one should ever have to get used to this."

"It was harder for Sapphire before Ruby. One of the blessings of entering a committed fusion… we bear it together."

"He's really okay?" Amethyst seemed to still be in the process of accepting the idea as real. "Steven's… alive?"

"All of this is taking place in the space of a moment. Right now he's collecting shells. You still haven't woken up, Amethyst. Pearl, you're making his breakfast. And tonight you'll make him dinner, same as always."

Pearl was weeping again, now with unutterable gladness. She embraced the revelation eagerly, ravenously, like a lifeline. Amethyst's tears were drying while she tested the waters. Always different, those two. Wonderful.

Now it was just them. Their surroundings couldn't even be described with colors as Garnet's focus telescoped to encompass less and less of this avenue of possibility. They remained in a little circle around Steven until he was gone as well, his ghastly fate no longer even a dream. Garnet gave the phantoms of her friends each a reassuring squeeze as they leaned into an embrace, Pearl practically delirious with relief and Amethyst surprisingly calm, a mysterious little smile playing on her face.

Their short, speculative existence ended on a note of hypothetical bliss.


End file.
